Page:Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857.djvu/493

Rh and observations during the earthquake. They, and all with whom I conversed in the monastery, described the noise as being heard at the same moment, as the first movement of shock; some thought a very little before, some an instant after, and that it continued as an awful rumbling roar during the whole time of motion, and even after it. They could give but a very confused account of the second shock, which arrived about an hour after the previous ones; saying that they were all in too much alarm, and dread of the buildings around them, that were momentarily giving signs of falling, to be prepared to remark much about the last shock, except that it further ruined and shook down many things that the preceding ones had left. They had all taken refuge in the centre of the great open court, and remained exposed to the cold for several hours, before they durst return to their shattered cells.

They were unable to give any precise information as to the moment of occurrence of the first shock; and as to direction, they could only say they were shaken in every direction, and that the shocks were at first, they thought, from north or N. E., and then in every way or vorticoso. The only watch in the monastery, was a curious old English one, the maker's name and date in which proved it to have been made about 140 years before; and with a singular notation for the hours upon the dial, which the owner had never been able to make out until I deciphered it for him. It may therefore be imagined that it was not kept very exact as to time, and probably had not for a hundred years shown true time, until the day when I set it at noon, for the venerable and simple-hearted owner.